iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Hakeem Jefferson @hakeemjefferson.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

“I am somebody!” I grew up obsessed with the sound of Black orators whose voices alone felt like they could open heaven, even as they fought to help Black folks find peace here on earth. Knowing how much Jesse Jackson loved our people taught me to love and struggle for us too. A true legend.

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APSA & ICA Political Communication Divisions @polcomm.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

The APSA Political Communication section is accepting nominations for its annual awards. Please send nominations directly to the chair of each committee. 🔎 More details on awards, committee, and eligibility criteria: politicalcommunication.org/awards/

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Curd Knüpfer @curdknupfer.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

🚨NEW PAPER The Logic of Connective Faction: How Digitally Networked Elites and Hyper-Partisan Media Radicalize Politics w/ @yunkangyang.bsky.social & @mikecowburn.bsky.social Online radicalization doesn't just affect the public. It also reshapes how elites & parties behave. doi.org/10.1080/1058...

doi.org

The Logic of Connective Faction: How Digitally Networked Elites and Hyper-Partisan Media Radicalize Politics

Across democratic systems, ideological cleavages increasingly emerge not only between but also within political parties. At the same time, hyperpartisan and digitally networked media ecosystems amp...

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

As I sit here about to do free write for a manuscript after having first spent the past 2 weeks reading and abstracting during my writing time.

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

I always read, and abstract or annotate everything I cite. Yes, I spend a lot of time reading, but that's what we're supposed to do. 🤷🏾‍♀️

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

This! During an R&R while adding literature suggested by the reviewer (addressing what our manuscript added), I had to explain in the letter that previous lit citing the seminal work misrepresented its findings. Everyone seemingly cited it based on how other works did w/o reading the paper.

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

These findings show how identity-based disinformation fuels white grievances, driving efforts to guard against "anti-white bias" and support policies that shutter programs, roll back Civil Rights, and defund education in the name of dismantling DEI.

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

We also find that (1) this relationship strengthened during periods of increased news coverage of CRT and (2) perceived anti-white discrimination mediated the relationship between Fox News use and opposition to diversity and fairness instruction in K–12 education.

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

“Rooted in White Identity Politics” 🔗 doi.org/10.1080/1058... traced white identity in anti-CRT discourse. This B-side shows its influence: Fox News exposure during heavy CRT coverage in 2021 was associated with greater perceptions of anti-white discrimination among white Americans.

doi.org

Rooted in White Identity Politics: Tracing the Genealogy of Critical Race Theory Discourse in Identity-Based Disinformation

Critical Race Theory (CRT) has recently garnered considerable political attention. This study examines how partisan news headlines discussed CRT, specifically analyzing how the incorporated languag...

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

The Media & Democracy Cooperative (MDDC) is on BlueSky! The MDDC is a collaborative network of researchers advancing the use of digital data to study political communication. Follow us at @mddcoop.bsky.social, and check out this starter pack to follow MDDC researchers: go.bsky.app/MBhgRyr

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Hi @kwcollins.bsky.social. I didn't realize how long it's been since I checked BlueSky; I am just seeing this thread. Let me know if you still wish to connect.

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Mary Beth Oliver @olivermb.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Come work with us at @pennstateuniv.bsky.social! We are doing a search for an assistant professor in health or science communication. Please help me spread the word, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out. I'm excited about this hire! psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Academic...

psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

Assistant Professor in Media Studies

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, a...

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Miya Williams Fayne, Ph.D. @williamsfayne.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

I'm excited to share my new pub: Intended & Unintended Visitors: Evidencing the Audience for Digital Black Press Outlets. I use imagined audience and white gaze frameworks and find that the digital Black press' non-Black audience is larger than the Black audience journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

journals.sagepub.com

Intended and Unintended Visitors: Evidencing the Audience for Digital Black Press Outlets - Miya Williams Fayne, 2025

Historically, the Black press has primarily targeted the African American audience, yet the increased accessibility of these outlets via digital media raises th...

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Arrianna Marie Planey, PhD MA @arrianna-planey.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Saying that "autism is preventable" is essentially saying that autistic people should not be born. It's a eugenicist claim.

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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

Bring back *everyone* who was sent from the U.S. to CECOT in El Salvador. *No one* should be sent there. ALL their rights were violated. ALL of them should come home.

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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

Someone grab the A1! The LLM-to-malware pipeline is a perfect downward spiral: AI generates code with imaginary packages, attackers register those package names with malware, and unsuspecting developers execute the code. Another way AI errors cascade into real-world threats.

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Shannon McGregor, PhD @shannimcg.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

🧵1/ Once again, I am talking about identity in communication. In a new #openaccess piece, we argue that scholars cannot meaningfully understand political communication unless we center identity. Ignoring it means missing a huge piece of the puzzle. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley @pressley.house.gov · 04/04/2025

🚨UPDATE: Rümeysa Öztürk has now suffered three separate asthma attacks while in DHS custody. She has not received her required asthma medications—a violation of her fundamental right to medical care. This is cruelty, it is neglect, and it is a damning moral and legal failure.

Pressley, Warren, Markey Sound Alarm on Rümeysa Öztürk’s Medical Neglect, Renew Urgent Calls for Her Release (1/2):

“It is unconscionable that Rümeysa Öztürk—a young woman pursuing her education, exercising her First Amendment rights, and contributing to her community—remains detained by DHS. Her ongoing incarceration is not only a blatant violation of her constitutional rights to due process and free speech, but it is now an egregious denial of her fundamental right to medical care.

Pressley, Warren, Markey Sound Alarm on Rümeysa Öztürk’s Medical Neglect, Renew Urgent Calls for Her Release (2/2):

“According to her lawyer, Rümeysa has not received her required asthma medications and has now suffered three separate asthma attacks while in custody. This is cruelty, it is neglect, and it is a damning moral and legal failure.

“As her representatives in Congress, we demand DHS immediately provide Rümeysa with access to the health care she needs, and absent compelling evidence justifying her detention and the revocation of her status, we call for Ozturk’s release and the restoration of her visa. Every minute she remains in custody is another minute her health and rights are at risk, and DHS must move with urgency.”

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Instead, its representation—particularly within robust conservative influencer networks—has implications for legitimizing racial animus and White identity politics, especially since these narratives originate from "authentic" voices on race.

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Black influencers' narratives echo that of traditional black conservative thought, but also adopt culturally conservative perspectives, such as discussing the existence of anti-white racism. We do not argue that black conservative thought has wholly changed.

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

We find that Black influencers present a statistically uniform narrative when discussing race and discrimination. Their discussion of race (as opposed to abortion) and engagement with videos on this topic increased post-2016 election.

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

New publication (w/ @shugars.bsky.social). journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/.... We analyze the transcripts of Black conservative YouTube influencer videos from 2013 to 2023, and its' algorithmically recommended videos.

journals.sagepub.com

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cory Booker breaks the record for longest Senate speech, previously held by segregationist Strom Thurmond.

Photo of Cory Booker in a black suit and tie

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Tananarive Due - The Reformatory @tananarivedue.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Sen. Booker just quoted the Langston Hughes poem "Let America Be America Again" "America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath— America will be!" poets.org/poem/let-ame...

poets.org

Let America Be America Again

Let America be America again.

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Doctora Malka Older @older.bsky.social · 19/09/2024

The threat to deport undocumented immigrants is a threat to deport documented immigrants is a threat to deport the descendants of immigrants is a threat to deport anyone who they think looks like an immigrant is a threat to deport anyone who disagrees with them

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Joe Katz @joekatz45.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

I can't find a spot that lets me convey the size of the crowd, but bodies are packed all the way to the stone building. #FreeRumeysaOzturk

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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Lawyers for the Venezuelan immigrants seeking to block the Trump administration from summary deportations under the Alien Enemies Act sum up their argument this way in brief to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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Curd Knüpfer @curdknupfer.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

📝NEW PRE-PRINT PAPER📝 "The Logic of Connective Faction: How Digitally Networked Elites & Hyper-Partisan Media Radicalize Politics" @yunkangyang.bsky.social, @mikecowburn.bsky.social, & I investigate what mechanisms mainstreamed the issue of "Critical Race Theory" 🧵 🔗 mikecowburn.com/wp-content/u...

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Taewoo Kang 강태우 康兌宇 @greennail.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

In this study, we propose that a code in a text may exist or not exist depending on one’s social space. Perhaps it’s time to rethink “intersubjectivity” in content analysis. *This will be presented at the next ICA Comps Methods div. @kthorson.bsky.social @snsoroka.bsky.social @dhrice.bsky.social

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Philadelphia Eagles @philadelphiaeagles.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS! THIS ONE’S FOR YOU PHILLY!

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Aaliyah🦋 @liyahmwemezi.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

QUEENNNN 👸🏾 #GRAMMYS

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

...disinformation that weaponizes shared imaginaries, “deep stories” about a group’s relative position in society to deceptively frame policies, entities, concepts, or organizations associated with equity or progress as inherently threatening to the dominant group’s prerogatives.

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

When researchers center the historical and sociopolitical contexts in which disinformation exists, we can better identify and understand its effects, particularly the impact of identity-based disinformation, which we define as...

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

This paper provides insight into the role conservative media played in shaping existing attitudes of CRT and, by extension, our current attacks on DEI. Also, although focused on CRT, this paper reflects the larger phenomenon of identity weaponization & dismantling of programs and institutions.

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

This paper is a long time coming. I could finally articulate arguments about race & disinformation that I’ve been trying to make since graduate school—where I often encountered the age-old question, “Well, how is this disinformation?”

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Language used the term racist/racism when discussing CRT, & incorporated discourse that harkens to Civil Rights-era delegitimization (communism, parent’s rights). The majority of discourse came from right-leaning sources &, at it's peak, CRT was mentioned with the terms white, racism, and racism.

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

We computationally analyzed partisan headlines about CRT from 2016-2022. We find that words prominently featured were culturally relevant and evocative of white Americans’ shared imaginaries, particularly feelings of white racial consciousness and racial resentment.

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Recent EOs signal a lot, among them the attack on civil rights systems, and the weaponizing of DEI to reshape govt. My co-authors @meredithdclark.bsky.social & I have long contemplated this outcome in a project published today in @polcommjournal.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

tandfonline.com

Rooted in White Identity Politics: Tracing the Genealogy of Critical Race Theory Discourse in Identity-Based Disinformation

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

This paper is a long time coming. I was able to articulate arguments about race and disinformation that I’ve been trying to make since graduate school—where I often encountered the age-old question, “Well, how is this disinformation?”

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Language mentioned CRT with racism/racist, and incorporated discourse that harkens to Civil Rights-era delegitimization (communism, parent’s rights). The majority of discourse originated from right-leaning news & at its peak, language connected CRT with racism (white, racist, & racism).

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Marisa Smith @smithmarisaa.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

We use computationally analyzed partisan headlines about CRT from 2016-2022. We find that words prominently featured were culturally relevant and evocative of white Americans’ shared imaginaries, particularly feelings of white racial consciousness & racial resentment.

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